Calorie for calorie, leafy green vegetables like spinach with its delicate texture and jade green color provide more nutrients and vitamins than any other food. Spinach carotenoid combats cancer. Here is a healthy spinach salad good enough for any lunch main course.

Vicki's Spinach Salad with Fruit.
Fresh baby spinach leaves
1 carrot thinly sliced
1 celery stalk thinly sliced
1/2 red onion thinly sliced
1 cup grape tomatoes
1/2 cup craisins (dried cranberries)
1/2 cup chopped fresh apple
1/2 cup chopped fresh pear
1/2 cup slivered almonds
2 hard boiled eggs sliced
6 strips crispy cooked bacon crumbled

Vicki's Dijon Mustard Vinaigrette
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon freshly chopped chives

Toss all of the salad ingredients except the eggs in a large mixing bowl. Whisk together the ingredients for the salad dressing and drizzle over the salad and lightly toss again. Top with the sliced hard boiled eggs.

If at the smoky smell and sizzling sound of frying bacon you go mmmm....Bacon! then you might be dismayed by a review published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute that suggests processed meats might be a cause of stomach cancer. But might is a big word in this specific report.

One, they don't have enough evidence to say for certain that bacon, sausage, hot dogs, salami, ham, and smoked or cured meat leads to an increased risk for stomach cancer. Two, the researchers did not take into account other studies of processed meats consumption that do reflect an increased risk of stomach cancer in those who also suffer from Helicobacter pylori infection. Early thought on this is that the infection in combination with processed meats consumption might be what increases stomach cancer risk. Definitive evidence is still not conclusive.

Consuming multiple servings of processed meats on a weekly basis is not a good idea, and most people know that. The news of this ambiguous review of previous studies still leaves the question wide open as to stomach cancer risks in relation to a diet of processed meats. Which begs the question: why did they release the findings of this report as significant news? It makes for a good news hook to attract more readers and television viewers, but I don't think it really tells us much in the way that we can take with us to the breakfast table.

Teach your children the importance of eating healthy and staying away from preserved meats. Yes it is quick and easy to prepare hotdogs or to order pepperoni pizzas when in a pinch for time or you are just too tired and don't feel like cooking a full meal. Parents should be the mentors to their children and set a healthy lifestyle starting with eating habits.

Most preserved meats contain nitrates which are converted into a carcinogen, cancer causing agent, in the body. This includes foods that are typically pink in color like bologna, salami, pepperoni, hotdogs, corned beef, pastrami, bacon, and cured ham.

Historically, nitrates served two purposes: to help prevent the growth of certain bacteria that can cause an outbreak of botulism, a deadly food-borne illness, and to give cured meat a pink color. These nitrates, once added to the meat, would break down over a period of time, forming nitrites. Eventually, nitrites themselves were added directly to the meat to speed up the curing process.

In cooked meats, the time and temperature of the cooking are the critical factors in preventing bacterial growth. In recent years, better production and food storage methods have decreased the potential for food-borne illness. However, nitrites continue to be used in cooked meats to maintain the traditional pink color and cured flavor. Nitrites can contribute to the formation of potentially dangerous carcinogens in the body, which in turn can result in malignant tumor growth over time.

Children are especially susceptible to nitrite poisoning. These carcinogenic compounds have been associated with cancer of the oral cavity, urinary bladder, esophagus, stomach and brain and child leukemia. One study found that children eating more than 12 hot dogs per month have nine times the normal risk of developing childhood leukemia. So take the time to help your children eat right and set good eating habits from the beginning. If you just have that uncontrollable craving for a hot dog, be sure to buy a brand of hot dogs that do not contain nitrates. Or when the pizza craving hits, order a veggie pizza and learn to leave off the pepperoni and ham and other processed meats with nitrates. Learning a healthy diet starting out will decrease the chances of childhood obesity, diabetes, and heart disease also.